@Adena thanks for stoppin' by! How many cycles have you done with 5/3/1? As I see it, 5/3/1 is periodized while SL5x5 is linear and goes up in weight EVERY session and squats 3 times per week. Calculating things out, should prove that the SL5x5 adds weight 3x as fast on squats and deadlift and twice as fast on the others. BUT, the frequency is much higher and more volume per session with SL5x5. I think it depends on recovery ability/food intake/quality of rest that will determine if and how much I do SL5x5 at these higher weights. I think it's a great program for quick gains in the beginning but not as practical to be squatting heavy sets 3x/week. That's where the Madcow 5x5 and SL5x5 advanced come into play...another couple of paths to consider.

@RobPMFF Thanks Rob, my stance isn't narrow but it isn't sumo-wide either. Actually it's not the squatting that caused the pain. It was sitting too much over the weekend (on the road) and the knees not being warm. It was when I stopped at a rest area and went up a step that I got the sharp pain. It's just when I tried to go do squats on Monday, the pain was still there from the weekend and was more severe when I tried to squat. I think that the rolling and being well warmed up/keeping my knees warm has been the biggest help. That, and the squatting, I'm guessing, really got the blood flowing to the quads and helped flush them clear of the crap from the inactivity. Almost like the legs were stale and needed to be refreshed. That's what intuition tells me anyways...

On another note, I looked at charts today for strength standards. It says I am in the intermediate level now and in some, half-way to advanced! (according to calculated 1RM) Maybe I'll get a snap shot of them up here. Guess I can't say I'm a beginner anymore. Well, I'll still consider myself a beginner until I've been lifting at least a year...maybe then, still a little green.

Ran another 600m this morning with my 6th graders. They do this every morning at 10:00 as a whole school. Just like a military drill in formation with a cadence, sound-off, whistles blowing and everything!

I played badminton for 45 minutes as my warm-up. No kidding here, this was quite high intensity compared to anything I've ever done in the States. China takes badminton VERY seriously here! It turned out to be a great warm-up for my shoulders as I played left and right handed so it would be even. My left side coordination SUCKS!

Bench:1x5 - 65kg1x5 - 75kg1x3 - 83kg1x3 - 88kg1x7 - 93kg5x10 - 52kg (same as last time - exploding up sending the bar in the air and catching it on each rep)

5/3/1 is a more advanced program, it should be in the same list you put madcow and sl advanced in. My understanding is that with all these progs there are 2 similarities that set them apart from a beginner prog like stronglifts

1) They add weight slower which is appropriate after you've plateaued at least once (giving more recovery time)2) They tell you how much weight to used based on your max (which is now possible as your technique should be consistent)

5/3/1 should be repeated like any other good prog (3-4 weeks isn't long enough to have an effect). At the end of the cycle, you take your 1RMs and add 2.5kg to the upper body lifts and 5kg to the lower body lifts and start again.

Although this doesn't really matter to you if you were just using it as a break from squatting 3x a week, I'd maybe consider moving on from stronglifts if squatting heavy 3x a week is becoming too much, or at least drop the volume of the squats down permanently to 3 sets and less till you squeeze the rest out of the prog.

But to be honest as long as you keep doing all the good exercises (squat/dead/bench/row/pullup) and keep trying to beat your maxes, everything else is nit picking.

gsop_3 wrote:

Ran another 600m this morning with my 6th graders. They do this every morning at 10:00 as a whole school. Just like a military drill in formation with a cadence, sound-off, whistles blowing and everything!

I'd like to see that in this country. I doubt half the kids couldn't even jog 600m without stopping.

Bench and rows are a great combination, when I do them together I feel like I've had a great upper body workout!

I think getting away from the SL5x5 beginner has helped me see that maybe I should move on from it to at least madcow's or SL advanced. I think my body will thank me in the long run. They both still squat 3x per week like I want to do, but they're periodized and not all heavy, all the time. I really don't plan to gain much more body weight and with where my numbers are on the bar, I think it won't hurt to change gears. So, I'm not overly concerned with squeezing everything I can out of the beginner program. After all, this is a lifelong race we're running here...much bigger than this or that program.

Along the way, I've done little cardio work and zero speed or agility work, thinking I needed to build a base of strength first and then worry about those things. While I'm not the strongest I could be at this body weight, I think that I want to start doing the other things, too. Perhaps, 5/3/1 without any assistance exercises - JUST the 4 core lifts, will allow room in my recovery ability to do just that.

Just thinking and typing here...Throwing it out there for suggestions or comments.

To answer your questions, gsop_3, I don't even remember how long I've been doing 5/3/1, I enjoy it so much! I've been seeing steady progress for about a year on this program, so I haven't changed it around too much, I just take a break once in a while.

I've never done stronglifts, but it does sound more like a beginner program, because I know at this point I wouldn't recover so fast from squatting so often, but in the beginning I could. Actually, before I started 5/3/1, I did Bill Starr's 5x5 which is somewhat similar to Stronglifts, at least as far as squatting three times a week. It's a lot more linear, which works for the first few months and then you start to plateau, which is exactly what happened for me. It's two weeks of doing five sets of five and then two weeks of five sets of three, if I remember right. And day one and three are the same, with squats, bench, overhead press, and something else, I think...Day two in the middle is deadlifts and pull-ups or something. I can't really remember anymore. But at this point, I would never be able to give a training session my all if I did so many core lifts in the same day.

But yeah, I agree with Chewy, I just don't really consider myself an expert, so I'm tentative about giving out information to others.

I am also starting to feel like squatting 3x/week is getting to be difficult, my legs just always feel kind of achy. But I would certainly still call myself a beginner so I don't know. I need to start thinking about what I am going to do.

@ Adena - Thanks for all the input! I looked up the Bill Starr 5x5 and downloaded a really nice spreadsheet of it as well as the SL 5x5 advanced. Both look pretty good! I think I now have options 'O' plenty. I'll have another two weeks of 5/3/1 before I need to decide. So far, I'm feeling really good on the 5/3/1...better than I felt on the SL 5x5.

@Lobsteriffic - I'm amazed as well! It wasn't really until I looked back and put it side-by-side with my current numbers that I really saw the progress. It makes me hungry for MORE! LOL As far as the SL5x5 goes, I just read that once you reach about 1.2-1.5x BW on the squats, it's OK to change things up. move to 3x5 or 1x5 or go on to something completely different altogether. Those are also other options I am looking at. Keep me posted on what you decide and how it works out for you. Keep it up!

Today's W/O:

5/3/1 cycle 1 session 8

Ran @ 10km/hr for 5 minutes, then...

OHP:1x5 - 45kg1x3 - 57kg1x3 - 60kg1x8 - 64kg

Chins:2x10 BW@?? (haven't weighed myself in two weeks ...but it was 84.5kg last I checked)

I'm thinking of doing something like this once a week and gradually adding more intervals as my cardio is able. My heart rate one minute after the last 200m was 150bpm...not as bad as I thought it would have been.

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